How to Embrace Change and Discover the "New" You Need Now
New season. New school year. New job. New relationship. All these pivotal points require something new from us to embrace something new.
But how? How do we effectively and successfully (and finally) move into our "new"?
We close out this month's theme of All Things New addressing the one thing that matters most in all this talk of newness.
You.
How are You Now?
You can only live in the new based on how you are now.
Not based on who you were.
Not based on your mistakes,
Not based on your dark thoughts,
Not based on the sin you thought you got away with, but Heaven saw.
Not based on the limited past you created and lived.
Based on how you are now.
So, how are you? Now?
With Christ, how we have limited ourselves through sin no longer defines who we are now.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ~Ephesians 2:1-5, New International Version
So the question is not only how are you now, but who are you now?
Who You Are Now?
Who are you now that you know the sacrifice of your Savior?
Now that your new life in Christ has been confirmed.
You are the recipient of his mercy. You are the beneficiary of his grace.
It is not a matter of it whether this is true or not.
God's Word confirms it.
The challenge is do you believe it?
Finding The "New" You Need Now
And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). ~Ephesians 2:6, Amplified Bible (Classic Version)
Heaven is not questioning who you are. Are you?
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ~Ephesians 2:19 NIV
The newness you seek starts with how you see yourself, how you identify with Christ.
It's waking up every morning not as one who has been defeated but as a conqueror. Confronting life's challenges with His Word and celebrating life's victories giving Him praise. It is knowing with absolute certainty God may go silent, but he never goes blind.
He sees you. He hears you. He knows you.
And if you are not completely there yet, it's okay. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Even the most sanctified saints need to practice keeping their identity in step with the Savior. Just keep reminding yourself of who Christ says you are every single day until you believe it, then act based on what you believe.
How high your ceiling,
how great your possibilities,
how abundant,
how joyful,
how peaceful,
how transformative your life will be
is embedded in how you see yourself in relation to Christ.
In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. ~Ephesians 2:21-22 NIV
God sees you as his place to dwell.
Ready to experience the "new" you need now? Identify with the Christ that identifies with you. See yourself as an atmosphere the Holy Spirit can live with, and allow God's Word to remind you when you don't.
This could be your pivotal moment, but perfection is not required. Only courage.
If you want new, it starts here.
With you.
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